Brush your teeth before you cross the road!

"Okay, let's get out of here- the emptiness is getting to me." Ink half joked, hopping through the portal.

Blue and Error shared a look before jumping into the portal after the chaotic artist. The two landed softly in a layer of thick, sparkly snow as the gateway behind them sealed off in a blinding light. Error felt his mouth twitch into a slight smile- he hadn't been here in a while and seeing the twinkling stars and constellations made him feel at ease.

"It sure is a stellar sight." Blue commented.

Error placed his hands on his hips and glared at Blueberry in utter disappointment. It would be better if Blue wasn't here, he decided. Ink chuckled softly, readjusting his hold on the unconscious Dream and studying his surroundings.

"Okay, we need to find Toriel so let's head to the ruins."

Blue nodded in agreement, raising a gloved hand in a way that looked like he was saluting, and thoroughly scanned the area. After careful consideration, the skeleton decided that the large door a few meters behind them may lead to the Ruins.

"I found the entrance!" He exclaimed excitedly, clumsily darting through the snow towards the towering doorway with starry eyes.

Error couldn't believe this was the same skeleton that tricked Nightmare.

"Congratulations- it wasn't very hard to spot." He grumbled, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket and trudging through the dense blanket of snow after the other. 

Ink hesitated for a moment however trekked after them, careful not to disturb or irritate Dream. He's really gone and made a mess of everything, hasn't he? Bubbles of guilt once again arose within him. Before he'd been scolding himself for taking his vials but.. now he's thankful he did it. He glimpsed down at his almost motionless best friend. Dream could've died and it would've been his fault. 

He wouldn't have cared if it weren't for the vials.

But he does care and it hurts. 

Ink sighed quietly, switching his gaze towards Error and Blue who were a few feet ahead, bickering childishly. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he listened in on their conversation.

"I am not a spider, stop calling me that." Error hissed, increasing his pace to try and get away from the silly little skeleton.

Blue hurried after him, stumbling slightly in the dense snow.

"But you can make web from your eyes!" He exclaimed, gesturing towards the blue tear-like stains on the destroyer's skull. "And I've seen you crawl around on the ceiling." He added, rushing past Error and proceeding to walk backwards so that he was still facing him. 

Error's mismatched eyes flickered between Blue and the doorway that was coming closer and closer with each step they took.

"It's not web."

"It basically is!" 

"Keep this up and I'll destroy your universe."

"No you won't." Ink piped up from somewhere behind the two.

Error ignored the artist, mumbling something profound which caused Blueberry to gasp.

"Error- wash your filthy mouth!" 

The destroyer snickered, his grin growing wider when he noticed the door was mere inches away from them. He came to a stop just as Blue made impact with the door.

"Ow!" He cried out, rubbing the back of his skull and spinning around to glare up at the hefty door.

Error burst into a fit of glitchy, warped laughter and Ink let out an amused sigh as he came to stand beside the destroyer.

"You doork." The artist chuckled making Blue huff and fold his arms.

Error payed no attention to the artist, not wanting to acknowledge his existence. 

Though the pun was kinda funny.

A sudden giggle came from the other side of the doorway. It was light and melodic- like an auditory hug that tickled the three skeletons and made them all stifle smiles- even Error! The soft clicking of a lock being unlatched could be heard from the other side; Blue took a few steps back as the great door steadily opened and revealed Outertale's Toriel.

"Hello-" She started before her eyes fell on Dream's dishevelled form in Ink's arms. "Oh my-! What happened?" She cried out, shuffling backwards and allowing the group to enter.

"Ask Ink." Error bluntly said, trailing after Blueberry who had zoomed inside already. 

Toriel followed Error with her eyes curiously, switching her gaze back to the sheepish artist that remained still.

"It's a long story- I'll explain later." Ink eventually said after a few seconds of silence. "Please can you help Dream?"

"Of course I will." She replied with a smile, clasping her hands.

Ink grinned weakly, stepping foot into the ruins. Toriel heaved the door shut and locked it, turning around and signalling for the artist to follow after her. Ink followed her instructions, falling into step with the motherly goat lady. He spared another glance down at Dream, his eyes flickering between shapes. 

They clambered up the crumbled yet stable stairway together in silence, the entryway of Toriel's quaint home gradually coming into view. As they reached the top of the cracked steps, Toriel guided the artist over towards the spare room. She lightly pushed open the door and stepped inside, waving Ink over.

"Place Dream on the bed, please." She instructed. "I'll do my best to heal him and then he'll have to rest until he wakes up."

Ink nodded, gingerly approaching the goat lady and placing the guardian gently onto the soft, fuzzy bed cover. He inwardly sighed, feeling his sins crawling on his back.

"You can sit in the living room if you like, there are lots of nice books you can read-" she started before being abruptly cut off by the artist.

"No- I'll stay here while you heal him."

He has to see the damage he's caused.

Toriel studied Ink's grave expression for a moment.

"Okay." She eventually replied, kneeling down beside the bed that Dream laid upon and hovering her paws over his unconscious form. A few seconds passed before a hazy green light materialised around them and began to encase the guardian in it's warm, healing glow. The light grew brighter and brighter until it had become a vivid, strong green. Ink observed as the cuts and bruises faded away leaving only the bloodstains on his clothes as evidence of them being there. His leg, however, didn't appear to be snapping back into place. Toriel frowned, closing her eyes and focusing her magic onto Dream's twisted leg. It seemed to twitch and slightly alter position in a way that made it look a little more comfortable yet it didn't entirely go back into place. 

"I'm afraid I cannot completely fix his leg, it'll have to heal by itself." Toriel apologised, reopening her eyes and ridding the magical green aura away. "But since I healed the majority of it, it may only take a few weeks."

When she received no answer, she turned her head slightly to meet Ink's gaze. His eyes were riddled with guilt and there were inky tears building up in the edge of his eye-sockets. He clutched the vial responsible for these wretched feelings, trembling uncontrollably.

"Oh sweetie, don't cry- Dream will be fine!" Toriel softly reassured, hurrying over to the artist and enveloping him a warm, motherly hug.

Ink choked out a sob, feebly clutching the silky white material of Toriel's robe and staining it with his tears. Toriel didn't mind, the artist was clearly hurting.

"It's my fault." He cried. "I caused this- I'm ruining your robe I'm sorry." His words were jumbled and voice shaky. 

Toriel frowned, patting Ink on the head as he dragged himself away from the embrace.

"I don't know what exactly happened, but I'm sure Dream will forgive you- you two are best friends after all and he is very forgiving." She encouraged.

Ink shook his head repeatedly, grabbing the edge of his scarf and clutching it tightly in quivering hands. Toriel stared at him with pity, crouching down slightly so that she was eye-level with the skeleton.

"Ink, everything's going to be alright." She spoke, voice tender yet firm. "Why don't you go join Blueberry and the other one- keep them out of trouble."

Ink released his grip on the scarf and wiped his eyes, leaving smears of ink on his skull. Toriel let out a small breath of laughter at the sight, patting him again on the head.

"Where are they?" He sniffled.

"I think they're in the living room- or, that's where I assume they'd be." She replied. 

Ink nodded, wiping his eyes once more before shooting Toriel a smile.

"Thank you for healing Dream."

Toriel beamed brightly, ushering the artist out of the room.

"Now go join your friends, I'm going to sit and read." 

Ink once again nodded, exiting the room with the goat lady and watching her wander over to the living room. He fiddled with the edge of his scarf again.

"Friends." He mumbled.

The sudden sound of laughter filled the house, startling the artist. He turned his head in the direction of where it came from, noticing Blue and Error stood in front of the mirror at the very end of the hallway making the most dastardly of faces.

"What are you guys doing?" Ink asked, timidly nearing the other two.

Error and Blue simultaneously turned to face Ink, bursting into laughter when they immediately noticed the smeared ink stains below his eye-sockets.

"What the hell happened to you?" Error asked, pointing at the marks.

Ink frowned, hurrying over towards the mirror and peering at his reflection. He felt his face heat up in embarrassment.

"Oh." was all he said before burying his face in his hands.

Error rolled his eyes, remembering he currently hates Ink- well, hates him more than usual. Blue's eyes shifted into stars and he grinned at the artist.

"You don't seem like an enemy spy at the moment." He declared, causing Ink to stare at him curiously. "I trust this Ink."

Ink opened his mouth to say something however was interrupted by Error.

"I don't." He grumbled.

"Me neither." Ink added, eyes shifting between shapes.

The trio stood there for a moment, each thinking about everything that's happened.

"You've got some explaining to do, Ink." Error muttered. "I don't think Dream will wake up any time soon so let's go outside and talk."

The destroyer created a glitchy gateway to his usual spot on the outskirts of Outertale and stepped through, motioning for the other two to follow. Blue wasted no time in leaping through it, releasing a string of "mweh heh heh's" as he went. Ink took a deep breath, jumping through the portal and landing beside Blue.

His eyes were immediately drawn to the mesmerising sky of Outertale. Stars twinkled and glittered like thousands of gemstones, radiating a faint glow of light. There were constellations scattered around and clusters of space debris floating aimlessly. 

"Woah, I never realised how pretty Outertale was." Ink confessed in awe.

"That's because you were too busy messing with other monster's lives." Error spat, making Ink flinch.

"Hey- no! Bad Error." Blue scolded, taking a seat on the edge of the platform they stood upon. He aggressively pat the space beside him until Ink sat down with him and Error sat on the other side of Blue- though a good distance away.

"Okay Ink, tell us everything."

Ink let out a deep breath, shifting his gaze up at the cosmos as he began to speak.

"It started off as curiosity, really." He murmured, absentmindedly twiddling with a vial. "What would happen if I did this? How would it affect the multiverse?"

Blue glanced at the artist, raising a non-existent eyebrow.

"I never told you about my uh, problem. I don't have a soul- I can't feel anything, or at least, I couldn't."

Error turned to stare at Ink incredulously.

"I don't know how I came to be, I just remember waking up in the anti-void one day. I couldn't feel anything at all, I was empty and devoid of emotion. That is until one day paint seemed to spill into the void."

Ink paused for a moment. 

"Each colour of paint granted me with a different feeling- it was amazing yet scary. I didn't understand all of these new emotions. After sometime of being away from the paint, I noticed the feelings seemed to slowly die until I was once again empty, so I decided to always carry the paint in some vials so that I could pretend to have a soul."

Blue and Error both stared at Ink, dumbfounded. The artist continued to peer up at the stars, tracing a constellation with his eyes.

"Anyway, like I said I did all of this because I was curious."

"You ruined Dream and Nightmare's life because you were curious?" Error voiced. "Yeah that makes sense."

"I was low on feelings when I became curious- I couldn't fathom the repercussions of my actions. I just wanted to know what would happen. Dreamtale was interesting and I knew that Nightmare was unstable. I didn't originally intend for this to happen, I wanted to be friends with him but-"

"Let me guess, you were curious?" Error snarled.

"Yes, I was curious!" Ink barked. "I know it sounds horrible- it is horrible! But I couldn't see that." He mumbled, glancing downwards with shame. "It's not the face that makes someone a monster, it's the choices they make with their lives and I truly have become a monster. I hurt Dream- I hurt you and Blue. I'm glad I took my vials earlier- it opened my eyes."

Error remained quiet this time.

"You both made me realise something earlier. Abandoning the memories of my friends will only cause me to fall into more darkness. This manipulative plan I had isn't worth losing my closest friends over. I don't want to continue this path- I want to fix my mistake and help bring Nightmare back for his and Dream's sake!" He exclaimed, eyes flickering again as he glimpsed back up at the many stars that littered the sky. "I'm not asking for forgiveness, but please let me help you- I'll do my best to correct everything and that's a promise I'll keep!"

Blue examined the determined expression on Ink's face. He really did seem genuine. Error didn't say anything, silently eyeing the artist with uncertainty.

"Well I'm not one to hold a grudge, I'll forgive you Ink." Blue spoke up, smiling widely at the artist. 

Ink's eyes widened slightly- he hadn't expected forgiveness.

"If you screw this up, I'll destroy all of the alternate universes along with you and myself."

Ink and Blue blinked.

"Except Outertale."

Blue laughed and Ink grinned, feeling a bubble of happiness rise within him.

"I promise I won't mess this up." He proclaimed, hopping up onto his feet and taking on a courageous stance.

Blue cheered, jumping up and hugging Ink excitedly. He was so glad to have his friend back. Error scoffed as he stood up and folded his arms, wincing at the display of affection. Disgusting. Blue giggled, his eyes shifting into stars as he outstretched his arm trying to grab and pull the destroyer into the hug.

"No!" He cried out, leaping away like a startled cat. "Don't you dare-!"

Ink and Blue both laughed, pulling away from the hug.

"Hey, it's been a while- let's go check up on Dream." Ink suggested, shifting his line of sight towards the glitchy portal that had remained open.

Blue nodded eagerly, diving through the portal and rolling onto his feet at the other side. Ink followed after him and Error gave the cosmos one last appreciative glance before trailing after the two, closing the portal as soon as he was through.

The party wandered over towards the spare room and pushed open the door, surprised to see Outertale's Frisk talking with Dream.

"Dream!" Blue exclaimed with even larger starry eyes than before. "You're alive!"

Dream was sat propped up against the bed frame, watching Frisk drawing something for him. As soon as he saw Blue, Error and Ink, his golden-yellow eyes began to faintly glow and flickered to stars.

"Hey- yeah I'm alive, I think." He chuckled, waving slightly at them. His eyes lingered on Ink's nervous form for a moment.

"We're so glad you're alright!" Blue cried out, rushing over towards the guardian and trying to hug him. 

Frisk stoop up and held their arms out, preventing the energetic skeleton from throwing himself onto Dream.

"Calm down you little gremlin, he's probably still dazed." Error huffed.

"Oh yeah I forgot to mention- Dream's leg is broken and it'll take a while for it to fully heal."

The guardian nodded, a hint of sadness in his eyes that made Ink feel terrible. The artist took a few steps forward until he was standing at the end of the bed facing the guardian.

"Dream." He started, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I-"

"I forgive you."

Ink blinked. What?

"But I-"

Dream waved his hand dismissively, silencing the artist.

"Ink, we're best friends. I can't stay mad at you- but you better help bring my brother back."

A stray, inky tear rolled down from the artist's eye-socket. He didn't deserve forgiveness. He didn't deserve these friends.

"Hey don't cry- your skull is already smudged with ink." Dream chuckled. 

Ink swallowed thickly, rubbing away the tear with his sleeve.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

"It's okay." Dream and Blue responded simultaneously.

"Yeah, whatever- I'm still annoyed." Error grunted.

Ink sniffled, smiling widely. Even Frisk was giving him a thumbs up. He glanced down at the child's drawing, tilting his head slightly.

"What ya drawing, buddy?" He asked.

Frisk picked up their drawing and rotated it so Ink could see. It was a crudely drawn picture of Dream- it was pretty good, actually! Though there did seem to be something missing.

"That's a great drawing!" Ink praised, patting Frisk on the head. "Though, you did forget Dream's cape."

Frisk shook their head, placing the drawing down and pointing at the empty spot where his cape usually sat. Ink's eyes flickered between shapes.

"Huh- where's your cape?"

Dream hummed, finally noticing it was no longer with him.

"Gone, I guess." He said, closing his eyes and leaning back into the feathery pillow. A few seconds passed before he shot up and flung his eyes open. "My cape is gone!"

Error tutted, stuffing his hands into his pockets. 

"Oh my stars you're right!" Blue exclaimed, despite having already known about it's disappearance. "We must retrieve the cape!"

"I wonder where it is." Ink mused.

"We'll find it- it's most likely at the twins' house." Error pointed out. 

Dream raised a non-existent eyebrow.

"Is Nightmare okay?" He asked, frowning.

Error and Blue both nodded.

"We tied him up in some light-energy web!" Blue announced.

"It's not web." 

"He shouldn't be able to break out from it for a while so we have lots of time to get the villagers to safety." Blue stated, ignoring Error.

Dream hummed thoughtfully, a contemplative look on his face.

"We should take them to the Omega timeline." Error stated.

Dream nodded in agreement.

"Good idea- when we get to my universe I'll call Core Frisk."

Frisk raised their head curiously, catching Error's attention.

"Core Frisk fell into the Core and is scattered across the timelines. They have the ability to enter all AU's and they rescue genocide survivors and take them to the Omega timeline."

Frisk grinned. Core them was awesome!

"We should probably get going soon so that we have lots of time before Nightmare breaks free." Blue stated, fiddling with Ink's long, draping scarf.

Error, Ink and Dream all hummed in agreement.

"Hey Frisk, can you tell Toriel that we've gone back to my universe?" Dream requested, earning a nod and thumbs up in response.

Ink grabbed Broomie, painting a portal on the wall that led straight to the village of Dreamtale. Blue and Frisk both helped Dream stand up, the guardian leaning against the Blueberry for support.

"Bye Frisk, we'll visit again soon and this time we'll have my brother with us!" Dream declared, beaming brightly. 

Frisk nodded and clapped, waving goodbye to the four.

They all returned the wave before traversing through the portal, wondering what awaits them in the village of Dreamtale.

--End--

I really enjoyed writing this part lol